Damocles
əˌkliz noun
Idioms 2.
sword of Damocles, any situation threatening imminent harm or disaster.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To Damocles
Collins
World English Dictionary
Damocles (ˈdæməˌkliːz) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| classical myth See also Sword of Damocles a sycophant forced by Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, to sit under a sword suspended by a hair to demonstrate that being a king was not the happy state Damocles had said it was | |
| Damo'clean | |
| —adj | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10
Damocles
is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
| a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc. |
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
Damocles
courtier of Dionysius I, tyrant of Syracuse; his name in Gk. means lit. "fame of the people," from demos, damos "people" (see demotic) + -kles "fame," a common ending in Gk. proper names (e.g. Sophocles,
Pericles), from PIE *klew-es, from base *kleu- "to hear" (see listen). To teach Damocles how a tyrant lives, Dionysius seated him at a banquet with a sword suspended above his head by a single hair.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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